ALL PASSENGERS RESCUED

Chronicle (Levin), 26 November 1946, Page 9

ALL PASSENGERS RESCUED

LONDON, Nov. 24. All 12 of the passengers and crew of the Dakota were rescued today by Swiss Storch planes after their five-day ordeal on the snow-cover-ed mountainside. The rescued were taken from the glacier to Meiringen, a Swiss village five iniles down the mountain. Tlte bioren planes, litted with ski landing-gear, rau a " taxi service" to a point near the wrecked Dakota. It was not possible for the two planes to briug the passengers out in any particular order. They picked up thosO uearest the lauding place and fleW baek while the others to bo rescued woved towards tlie landing place. By the time the planes made their first landing, most of tlie passengers and creiv Were strung out down the glacier in the care of the ground parties which were takiug them by foot down to the village. The rescued, who are now at Meiringen, are Brigadier-General ilaynes (tlie leader of General Mark Clark's advisory group in Austria), Mrs. Hayues, Sergeant Lewis Hill (the radio operator of the Dakota), StaffiSergeant Wayne Folsom (who has a badly injured knee and frost-bitten feet), Mrs. Tate (the wife of BrigadierGeneral Tate, General Clark's deputy), Colonel William MacMahon (the retiring Chief of Staff of the United States Forces in Austria), Mrs. Snavely (the wife of General Snavely, the American air chief in Austria), Mrs. MacMahon (the wife of Colonel MacMahon) and her 11-vear-old daughter (both are weli, but the mother has a straiued leg), Mr. George Harvey (a civilian petroleum oflicer in Austria), Lieuteuaut Irving Matthew (the co-pilot of tlie Dakota) and Captaiu Italph Tate (the pilot of the crashed plane and a son of General Tate). The rescued, with the exception of Stafl'-Sergoaut Folsom and one of the women, who is suff'ering from shock, are in " exceptionally good condition", according to tlie United States army authorities. All, however, show the eff'ects of their ordeal in waiting for discovery and rescue. The pilots of the Storch planes, Major Hitz and Captain Hug, said the Dakota touehed down on the snow at the angle of the slope and skidded som-i distanee before stopping 50 feet from a liuge crevass, with crevasses bn either side. The pilot of the Dakota, Captain Tate, wore a bloodstained bandage. He explained that he hit his liead on the instrument panel when he crash-landed. lle stated, in reply to questions, that he rau iiito a heavy head wind, which blew hini off his eourse and into tlie mountains. He realised that he was in ihe Alps and tried to gain altitude, but failed when caught in a down draft. Suddenly he saw a glacier looming ahcad and he made a forced lagding on it. The food supplies were eihausted after Friday, after which each passenger was rationed to a cliocoiate bar daiiy. They used wooden portions of Ihe plane to keep fires going.